A demeaning battlecry

I was appalled to hear and see on TV yesterday that the mantra, or battlecry of the Philippine delegation to the Southeast Asian Games in Indonesia is “Lakas PINAS”. My God! How could they demean the name of their own country by introducing it to the Asian community as a “Pinas”? It should sound like a joke, but truly, this should not be a laughing matter. I remember that the Japanese even protested when they were referred to as “Japs”. Now we are doing it to ourselves. Whoever introduced that tag, and who approved it, must have little or no respect for this country at all.

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As for the SEAG games, an item yesterday in the Manila Bulletin said that Philippine Olympic Commission and Philippine Sports Commission officials are complaining because the government has created a committee to probe their expenses after the games, especially if they do not perform well. The POC boss was quoted as saying that the games have not yet started and they are hearing about this already. He said he could not understand why this is being done because they have been “transparent” in all their dealings, preparations and transactions.

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Doesn’t he remember, or didn’t he know? When the SEAG was last held in the Philippines and some of the games were played in Bacolod, the local media unearthed, and exposed how the millions released to the local committee had been used. Didn’t he know about the incontrovertible evidences culled from bank documents and records about the millions that had gotten into the personal account of the Games bigwig here then? Hadn’t he heard about how the funds went to so many extraneous purposes, including the repainting of a cemetery?

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Of course the POC leadership then and the PSC head now had not been in exactly the best of terms, so, perhaps that is why the latter does not – or will not – accept the fact that the former had filed charges against the official involved. But the then PSC head had to pass on the job to a new one, who does not seem to have any inclination to look into the matter, or follow up the case. And they wonder why a committee has been created now to do some checking now!

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It looks as if sports and developments involving the most popular organizations promoting it are going through some crisis of sorts these days. It is not only in our country where sports continually gets in the headlines. Even in the United States there is trouble brewing, maybe even festering, in the famous National Basketball Association, or NBA, that has not yet began its much-awaited “conferences” because of money problems. Seems the NBA management and the players group cannot see eye-to-eye on many issues, so the games are not being played yet. How can basketball addicts get them to come to terms so the games can start?

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Still in sports, the Pacquiao-Marquez rematch is getting hotter by the minute and both camps are tossing claims towards each other as to the capability and power of their fighter. We know that our Pacman is what they call in cockfighting as “llamado” with the odds in Las Vegas at 1-8 in his favor. But I think we have to pray for our man because his foe this time is driven by anger and frustration, so we cannot tell what he may do in the ring to ensure his revenge.

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I had the chance to watch their second fight, actually, in Las Vegas and I say, we should not underestimate Juan Manuel Marquez. I saw him hit the canvass three times, and each time thought that was it, but he still came up, in fighting form, Manny won that one, but I noted that he looked exhausted afterwards. The day after, we were all invited to lunch at the birthday of his ring physician’s daughter, and he seemed to have recovered quickly. That was the time when he kidded Mayor Bing that he would need help carrying his belts because there were four, or five of them already.

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What a tangled web the Revilla-Bautista family tragedy is getting to be. Now the sister of the victim, Ramona, has changed her tune and says she was not abducted by the killers, but just went away by herself. Then it was reported that she was in the custody of Senator Bong, her brother, who later denied this. The key to the mystery is in the hands of the girl friend, who should be under the tightest security now. The killers may be regretting that they did not finish her off as well. Anyway, as it says in the last part of a thrilling serial: Abangan ang susunod na kabanata (Look out for the following chapter).*

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